Sifr

Faction Abilities

Credit to Guile’s World and Planewalker for many of the following faction abilities.

Athar

Divine Disavowal: Defiers receive a +2 faction bonus on all saving throws against divine spells, spell-like abilities, domain powers, and energy channelling used by the servants of Powers.

Divine Ban: The Lost pay a price for their defiance: Clerics, paladins, and other followers of specific deities may not aid known faction members with spells or other uses of divine power, particularly healing. Only extreme situations might lead a follower to violate this ban. ‘Course, no Defier blood would accept this aid anyhow.

Obscurement [Faction]Prerequisites: Athar, athaonBenefit: You gain the continuous protection of a nondetection spell as though cast by a sorcerer of a level equal to your level. This protection only functions against spells and spell-like abilities of powers and their minions. The DC of any attempt to break through the effect is equal to 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Wisdom modifier. You can suppress and re-establish this ability as a free action.

Believers of the Source

Reputation: The Godsmen belief that everyone can achieve godhood generally translates into fair treatment of all they encounter. This reputation for a consistent lack of prejudice makes them well-received throughout the Great Ring. They gain a +2 faction bonus to all Charisma-based checks with sentient planar beings (Intelligence 3 or better).

Climbing the Chain: Godsmen can’t be brought back from the dead with the spells raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection, though they may be retruned to life with the reincarnation spell for no material cost. If not reincarnated with the spell for a month following their death, the Godsmen will be automatically reincarnated as a newborn baby, beginning their next life. In either case, the race of their new body is chosen by the GM, based upon the Godsman’s previous actions.

Lack of Faith: Godsmen who venerate a specific deity (as opposed to the Source) suffer from lack of ultimate faith. After all, they know a power ain’t anything special – just some basher who occupies the next-to-last rung on the ladder of evolution. This problem of faith results in -2 penalties to save DCs for any divine spells or spell-like abilities they cast.

Skills: Godsmen have a +2 faction bonus on all Craft checks. A Godsman may choose any three skills to treat as class skills.

Believers of the Source Feats

Cumulative Life Experience [Faction]Prerequisites: Believers of the Source.Benefits: Many Godsmen believe that your intuition is the sum of the lessons you have learned in previous lives. Once per day for every three class levels you possess, you may add a +2 faction bonus to any one skill check, and if necessary can use the skill untrained. If you have at least 10 ranks in the skill, this bonus increases to +4. You must choose to use this feat before the roll is made.

What Kills You Makes You Stronger [Faction]Prerequisites: Believers of the Source, you must have died at least once.Benefits: Godsmen believe that their soul becomes stronger through learning from past mistakes, even the deadly ones. If your last death was caused by something that allowed a save, you gain a +3 faction bonus to that saving throw. If your last death was due to combat damage (as opposed to damage from a magical source like a fireball spell), you gain a +3 faction bonus to your Fortitude save.Special: You can gain this feat multiple times, so long as the bonus is applied to a different save. In other words, you have to die again in a different way from the last time you gained this feat.

Bleak Cabal

Already Mad: Already considered mad by most standards, devotees of the Bleak Cabal gain a +4 faction bonus on all saves against spells causing madness or insanity, including confusion, feeblemind, hideous laughter, irresistible dance, and lesser confusion. The GM may add to this list at their discretion.

Melancholia: Bleakers are subject to fits of deep melancholia as they reflect on the pointlessness of life. At the start of each game day, the player rolls 1d20. On a roll of 1, the character is overcome by the futility of his or her own beliefs. The basher won’t do anything unless philosophically convinced by another that it’s worthwhile. On a roll of 20, the Bleaker is instead inspired, and receives a +1 faction bonus on all d20 rolls for the day.

Mad Bleaker: A Bleaker who fails the melancholia roll three days in a row (or five days during a single 30 day period) may be considered for incarceration in the Mad Bleaker wing of the Gatehouse. ‘Course, it’s up to him whether or not he wants to commit himself to the asylum. But if he chooses to postpone or forgo the trip, he faces the possibility of extended madness – the very next time his daily 1d20 roll results in either a 1 or a 2, the Bleaker immediately goes insane and will remain in that condition until he’s taken to the Gatehouse for treatment. What’s more, the player must make the roll secretly, so other players won’t automatically know if the Bleaker’s gone mad. While insane, the Bleaker may wander off if left alone, may try to lead his group into trouble, won’t be able to take direction or cast spells, and won’t make a distinction between enemies and friends in combat.

Any faction member who enters the Mad Bleaker wing for treatment is allowed as much time as he needs to recover, receiving the care (such as it is) of Sruce and her workers. Only one of three things can happen:

The Bleaker dies in his cell. A DC 10 Constitution check avoids this fate.
With a successful DC 15 Wisdom check and much soul-searching, the Bleaker returns to his faith in the Cabal and is released. He won’t be subject to melancholia for the next six months of game time (he needn’t roll a d20 each day).

If the Bleaker neither dies nor reaffirms his faith, his will to live is shattered by the horrors within his mind and the weakened physical condition brought on by inaction. He can do nothing to escape, nor can he intimate to anyone that he wants to escape.

In this last case, the Bleaker’s cutters may try to rescue him. But even if they make it through the Gatehouse to his cell, the Madman’s likely to scream at the sight of his former friends and resist rescue. Should the group succeed in taking the Bleaker from the Gatehouse and care for him intently, the sod makes a full recovery after 1d4 game months of rest with a DC 10 Intelligence check. However, if he fails the Intelligence check, he retreats into a catatonic state for either 1d6 months (if cared for constantly) or 1d20 months (if cared for haphazardly). The Bleaker’s cutters may choose to return their catatonic friend to the Gatehouse for treatment.

Shortened Lifespan: Even if a Bleaker keeps making his daily d20 roll and never goes insane, he still faces a greater drawback to belonging to the faction. All members of the Bleak Cabal suffer from a shortened life span, as years of living with madness and melancholia eventually take their toll. For humans, half-orcs, and tieflings, this penalty is relatively minor: a subtraction of 10 years from a character’s Maximum Age. Halflings lose 20 years, while aasimar, genasi, gnomes, and half-elves lose 50 years. Full-blooded elves are the hardest hit, losing 200 years of their life span. (Oddly, dwarf, bariaur, and githzerai Bleakers suffer no ill effects.) ‘Course, many faction members see this as not a curse, but a blessing. Think about it – who’d want to live long in a multiverse that didn’t make sense?

Skills: Bleakers have a +2 faction bonus on Heal checks. A bleaker always treats Diplomacy and Heal as class skills.

Bleak Cabal Feats

Absorb Madness [Faction]Prerequisites: Bleak Cabal, Iron Will, character level 7th.Benefit: You gain an ability that’s a natural extension of your own resistance: the power to absorb artificially-induced madness in others. This power works on sods driven insane by spells or magical items, but not on those who’ve gone insane naturally. To use the power, you must first meditate for one hour, cleansing your mind of all thoughts. (This is often impossible. You’ve got to make a DC 10 Wisdom check to cleanse your mind; if you fail, you can try only one more time to cleanse his mind for the same victim.) The insane berk’s got to hold still, either voluntarily or otherwise, and you then begin a ritulastic massage of the victim’s head. The massage must be kept up until the barmy’s body grows numb, at which point you absorb the insanity. You gain your regular spell resistance roll against the madness, but if you fail you suffer the full effect. The process is exhausting, taking 1d12+4 hours to complete. If the ritual is interrupted, you must start over; otherwise, success is guaranteed and the victim regains full mental health immediately. However, you’ll suffer mental anguish for two days afterwards, during which time you sort out the absorbed insanity; during these two days, you take a -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. You also fail your melancholia check if you roll a 1 or 2 during these two days.

Doomguard

Sword Training: Sinkers can choose any one weapon from the following list and gain the appropriate Martial Weapon Proficiency feat: bastard sword, falchion, greatsword, longsword, rapier, scimitar, short sword. If the Sinker is already proficient in the chosen weapon, they instead gain the Weapon Focus feat for the weapon. In either case, the Sinker gains a +1 competence bonus to hit with the chosen weapon, and can wield weapons of that type normally even if they have the broken condition.

Sift: Faction members find themselves with more than just fighting skills. Any Sinker can sift through destroyed material and gain a psychic impression of what caused the destruction. He just picks up some broken rubble, charred wood, ground dust, or whatever. He then lets the material filter through his fingers while he spends 1 minute in quiet meditation. Sinkers of 1st through 5th level can read the cause of destruction only if it happened in the last 10 years. Sinkers of 6th through 10th level can go back 500 years. And Sinkers of 11th level or higher can read as far back as 1,000 years.

What’s more, if the destruction occurred within the last century, higher-level Sinkers can actually experience parts of it. For every minute spent in meditation and in contact with the rubble, sinkers of 6th through 10th level can relive five minutes of the disaster through sight only. Sinkers of 11th level or higher can hear and smell as well as see. And the chant hints that Sinkers who are 30th level or higher can actually enter the scene of a disaster, though nothing’s ever said of a basher returning from such a trip.

Doomguard clerics of all levels can also sift through deceased organic material and learn the cause of death. The mental images received are particularly vivid if the death was a violent one, or if the destroyed being was of the same alignment as the cleric.

Doomguard Feats

Entropic Blow [Faction]Prerequisites: Doomguard.Benefit: As a vessel of entropy, you can channel destructive energy, dealing extra damage with a melee attack. Once per week you can use an entropic blow as a standard action. You add your Charisma bonus to your attack roll and deal an extra 1 point of damage per character level. Use of the entropic blow must be declared before the attack is made. If the attack misses, the blow is wasted. The entropic blow is especially good at unravelling that which binds nonliving matter together. It automatically ignores hardness, as well as any damage reduction possessed by constructs or undead (regardless of the source of the damage reduction).

Extra Entropic Blow [Faction]Prerequisites: Doomguard, Entropic Blow.Benefit: You can use your entropic blow one additional time per week.
Special: You can gain Extra Entropic Blow multiple times. Its effects stack.

Improved Sword Training [Faction]Prerequisites: Doomguard, Weapon Focus with selected weapon, base attack bonus +4.Benefit: You gain Weapon Specialization with the selected weapon as a bonus feat. You do not have to meet the prerequisites for the feat.

Dustmen

Dead Truce: The Dustmen have one of the most unique abilities of all the factions, embodied in the Dead Truce. This truce is a pact, reached in times more ancient than memory, between the Dustmen and the beings of the undead realm. The effect of the truce is that the undead’ll ignore a Dustman, so long as the Dustman does nothing to harm the undead creature. If the Dustman breaks the pact, the undead and its companions will treat the sod as they would any other living being. This pact applies only to Dustmen. If one of this faction is with other bashers, the undead will react to the rest of the group normally (attacking, for example) while ignoring the Dustman. Should the Dustman aid his companions, those undead are released from the pact. Because of this possibility, it’s more common to find Dustmen working side by side with zombies and such.

Negative Energy Channelling: No matter their religion or alignment, once a basher with the ability to channel energy joins the ranks of the Dustmen they always channel negative energy.

Toward True Death: A deceased Dustman should always refuse to be brought back from the dead. Even those willing to be resurrected only return if they fail a saving throw (Will DC 10 + spell level + ability modifier). The Dustman cannot choose to willingly fail this saving throw. The concept of raising and resurrection is counter to the philosophy of the faction, and so it’s not something willingly accepted by most Dustmen.

Skills: Dustmen have a +2 faction bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks and may always make Knowledge (religion) checks untrained. A Dustman always treats Heal and Knowledge (religion) as class skills.

Dustmen Feats

Leader of the Undead [Faction]Prerequisites: Dustmen, Initiate of the Fourth Circle.Benefit: You gain Command Undead as a bonus feat.Special: If you cannot already channel negative energy, you gain the power to channel negative energy as if you were an evil cleric of your level. However, you cannot use this ability to heal undead or harm the living, only to use the Command Undead feat.
Special: If you already have the Command Undead feat, you gain a +4 competence bonus to your Will save DC when using the Command Undead feat.

Undead Minions [Faction]Prerequisites: Dustmen, Initiate of the Fourth or First Circle, Leader of the Undead.Benefit: When on a faction mission, you can request help from a group of undead (whose total Hit Dice equal no more than twice your character level). You must first convince your superiors you need the help, then successfully command the undead and reward them for their service.

Special: The GM determines undead availability and pay scale, but you can’t attempt to muster undead allies from the faction more than once per adventure. Clever Dustmen don’t abuse this pact of service or let it hit the chant – a lot of bashers would inflict their anger on the faction as a whole if they saw droves of undead marching the streets. Dustmen guilty of such abuse might find they’ve suddenly joined the walking dead themselves.

Fated

Taker’s Skills: The Heartless are a self-sufficient bunch, and an independent one, too. They don’t pass out magical items or spells to every namer in the faction; each berk’s got to earn his way. However, all Takers gain two additional skill ranks per level (e.g. fighters gain four skill ranks per level, rogues gain 10 per level, etc.).

Nothing’s Free: The Fated have the wherewithal to learn and grab what they need, but a Taker’s fierce independence is also one of his greatest weaknesses. No member of the Fated can give or receive any kind of charity. It’s an easy thing to refuse to drop a few coins in a beggar’s hat, but it’s another story if a Taker’s dying and a comrade wants to give him a cure potion. Hard as it seems to believe, the Taker simply won’t accept the potion – it must be earned, not given freely.

Skills: Takers have a +2 faction bonus on Sleight of Hand checks and may always make Sleight of Hand checks untrained. A Taker treats all skills as class skills, regardless of the Taker’s class.

Fated Feats

Layer Specialization [Faction]Prerequisites: Fated, Planar Specialization with selected plane, character level 10th.Benefits: Select a layer of the plane you specialized in to further specialize in. When on your layer of specialization, or when dealing with natives of that layer, you gain a bonus equal to your character level to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (planes), Sense Motive, and Survival checks. This bonus does not stack with your bonus for specializing in the plane.Special: Becoming an expert on a specific layer requires 1d4+1 months of travel on that layer to develop the necessary contacts and skills for survival before gaining your bonus for specializing in a layer.Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time it applies to a different layer of the plane. If a plane only has one layer, you gain no further benefit.

Plane Specialization [Faction]Prerequisites: Fated, factotum, character level 5th.Benefits: Select a plane of existence in which to specialize. When on your plane of specialization, or when dealing with natives of that plane, you gains a bonus equal to 1/2 your character level to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (planes), Sense Motive, and Survival checks.Special: Just because you choose a plane doesn’t mean the information just pops into your head. You’ve got to spend time there learning the ins and outs of the place. About a month of travel on and study of a plane is required before you gain your bonus for specializing in a plane.

Fraternity of Order

Intuit Pattern: Since Guvners tend to understand patterns easily, they can use comprehend languages once per day as a spell-like ability.

Adjust Pattern: Guvners can use shrink item once per day as a spell-like ability with a maximum duration of 24 hours. The change cannot be made permanent.

Letter of the Law: Guvners believe in laws, though the rightness or wrongness of them often makes little difference. A Guvner won’t knowingly break a law, unless he or she can find a legalistic loophole to avoid the penalty.

Skills: Guvners have a +2 faction bonus on Linguistics checks and may always make Linguistics checks untrained. A Guvner always treats Linguistics, Knowledge (planes) and Spellcraft as class skills.

Fraternity of Order Feats

Loophole [Faction]Prerequisites: Fraternity of Order.Benefits: By careful research of the laws of the multiverse, you are able to discover (or create) a loophole that allows you to gain a spell-like ability. The overall process is similar to researching a spell: It requires the expenditure of 1,000 gp per week and takes one week per level of the loophole (Note: The level of the loophole being created must be equal to or less than 1/2 your character level, rounded up). At the end of the time, you roll a Spellcraft check versus DC 10 + loophole level. If successful you have discovered a loophole and can now use the spell at will as a spell-like ability, up to once per round (caster level is equal to your character level). If you fail the Spellcraft check, you must start over.

Loopholes don’t last forever. Each time the Guvner uses the loophole there is a cumulative 2-in-20 chance that the laws of the multiverse notice and close the loophole. For example, the first time a Guvner uses the ability it works fine, but he loses that power permanently on a d20 roll of 1 or 2. If the Guvner has not lost the ability, he can then use it a second time, then afterwards loses the ability on a d20 roll of 1 – 4. Canny Guvners with the Manipulate Probability feat can use that ability to adjust the roll for loophole closure. A roll of natural 1 causes the loophole to close catastrophically, regardless of adjustments. (GMs, be creatively malevolent.) Whenever a loophole is closed, you can research a new loophole, as described above.Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time it allows you to create another, simultaneously active loophole. You may only have a number of active loopholes equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Probability Manipulation [Faction]Prerequisites: Fraternity of Order, Administrator, character level 5th.Benefits: You may choose to add +2 or -2 to any d20 roll made by a character within 60 feet of you as a free action. To use this ability, you simply must observe the action about to be performed and comment on the statistical probability of it succeeding. This ability must be used before the die is rolled and may be used a number of times per day equal to half your Intelligence modifier. It can only be used once per round.

Free League

Free Will: Free Leaguers have a natural resistance to mind-affecting effects, be they from spells, creatures, or magical items. Indeps save against mind-affecting effects with +2 faction bonuses to their rolls. Against mind-affecting effects that don’t normally allow saving throws, they still make a throw (though without the bonus).

One of Us: The Indeps aren’t a tight group, but they do look out for their own. Free Leaguers who buy wares in the Great Bazaar of Sigil get a 20% discount on all items purchased. This discount is only intended for fellow Free Leaguers, and Indeps buying discounted gear for members of other factions, even those friendly to the Free League, will quickly find this discount disappearing. And in public scuffles, a Free Leaguer who makes his faction known is likely to get help from other Indeps passing by.

On Our Own: Being independent, the Free League has no factol and therefore is not represented in any city business. Indeps have no judge in the courts, nor any seat on the council. Not surprisingly, in Sigil Indeps have few protected rights.

Free League Feats

The Chant [Faction]Prerequisite: Membership in the Free League, character level 3rd.Benefit: You may acquire reliable contacts who are knowledgeable in specialized fields (e.g. apocalyptic cults, black market portal routes, etc), or have access to knowledge due to their positions (e.g. members of other factions, religions, or other organizations). You may gain one contact per three character levels.

To consult one of your contacts, make a Diplomacy check to gather information. You may treat the results of this check as the results of a skill check for the appropriate knowledge skill, provided the information falls within the scope of your contact’s specific area of expertise.

A contact is not a combat ally, and most contacts tend to remain in one region. These individuals may or may not be members of the Free League, and particularly powerful or fiendish contacts may require some help in return. Maintaining your relationship with your contact is your responsibility, and the DM is free to roleplay the contact as they see fit. If you lose one of your contacts, you do not automatically gain a new one.

Harmonium

Command: All Harmonium members, from Notaries on up, gain the spell-like ability command once per day as a cleric of the character’s level (DC 11 + Charisma modifier).
Weapon of Choice: All of the Harmonium’s new recruits go through the same basic training, which includes weapon training. They receive a +1 bonus to attack roles with a weapon of their choice.

Orders: Their rigid beliefs expose several weaknesses in Harmonium philosophy. Any variance from the orders of a Harmonium superior requires an atonement on the part of the character before he or she can rejoin the ranks of the faction. This spell must be cast by a spellcaster who is sympathetic to the Harmonium’s cause. Members who “turn stag” – betray the faction – are automatically sentenced to death by the factol. Even refusing to return to the faction’s ranks is considered treasonous.

Harmonium Feats

Dedication [Faction]Prerequisites: Harmonium, Mover, character level 7th.Benefits: You gain a +4 faction bonus to saving throws against spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities with the emotion or fear descriptors.

Dictate [Faction]Prerequisites: Harmonium, Mover Four, character level 10th.Benefits: You gain the spell-like ability dictate once per day as a cleric of your level (DC 12 + Charisma modifier), and you may use your command spell-like ability 3/day instead of only 1/day.

Mercykillers

Discern Lies: All members of the faction are taught how to discern lies (per the 4th-level cleric spell) once per day to a single chosen question asked by the Mercykiller with a DC of 10 + ½ their level + their charisma modifier. The Mercykiller must declare that they are using this ability when the question is asked before it has been answered.

Justice Blow: Once per day as a part of an attack or full attack action, a Mercykiller can deliver a Justice Blow to an enemy. This attack must be announced before any roll is made. The Mercykiller adds their charisma modifier (if positive) to a single attack roll. If successful, they deal double damage on this attack. If this attack is a critical hit, add 1 to the critical multiplier instead (x2 becomes x3, x3 becomes x4, etc). The Mercykiller take nonlethal damage equal to the extra damage dealt by this ability. A Justice Blow deals no damage to creatures of Lawful alignment unless the Mercykiller believes beyond a reasonable doubt that the target has broken the law.

Above the Law: The faction tends to turn a blind eye to its own violations of the law – to a point. If a Mercykiller commits a crime while pursuing or punishing a known criminal, he’ll consider himself innocent, of course. Justice takes precedence over all. On the other hand, if he commits a crime outside of his punishment of a felon, he’s subject to the full weight of the law.

Eight Tenets of Justice: Any Mercykiller – Justiciar or otherwise – who ever fails to uphold the faction’s Eight Tenets of Justice must pay the music. First, the accused gets a short hearing before the factol. If he can’t give a satisfactory explanation for having shirked his duty, he’s given a choice: death by beheading in the Guillotine Room, or abandonment in the cavernous Grotto beneath the Prison. Most Mercykillers so charged have chosen the quick and relatively painless death accorded by the guillotine. It’s said that those few who’ve chosen the Grotto found death by a much less pleasant means. (See the Eight Tenets of Justice sidebar.)

Skills: Mercykillers have a +2 faction bonus to Survival checks when following tracks. A Mercykiller always treats Diplomacy, Knowledge (local), and Survival as class skills.

Mercykiller Feats

Extra Justice Blow [Faction]Prerequisite: MercykillerBenefit: You may use your Justice Blow ability 3/day instead of 1/day. You may only deliver one Justice Blow in any given round.

Know the Guilty Heart [Faction]Prerequisite: Mercykiller, character level 7thBenefit: You gain the ability to hear guilty consciences in the words of others. If you succeed at a Sense Motive check with a -5 penalty against a target’s Bluff check you can hear whispers of the dark deeds that weigh on their mind. The target doesn’t actually say anything different; you merely hear the underlying guilt as a soft voice while they speak.

This ability only reveals the crimes that the subject believes to be wrong; an extreme Anarchist would not necessarily reveal horrible acts committed as part of the revolution because they believe them to be just acts, but most evil individuals would reveal their crimes because they know them to be wrong and for whatever reason simply don’t care.

Revolutionary League

Infiltration: An Anarchist can pose as a member of any other faction automatically, without being detected. The Anarchist receives acceptance in the faction, access to their faction headquarters, and a +3 faction bonus to that faction’s class skills. If targeted by divination magic that would reveal their faction, the Anarchist detects as whatever faction they are currently posing as.

Fight the Power: Anarchists can never hold any public office or noble title, own a business, or take part in anything that would tie them into the power structure of the planes, unless doing so furthers the revolution.

Skills: Anarchists have a +2 faction bonus to Bluff checks. An Anarchist always treats Bluff, Disguise, and Sleight of Hand as class skills.

Revolutionary League Feats

Rogue Talent [Faction]Prerequisites: Revolutionary League, cannot have any levels in a class that grants rogue talents.Benefits: You gain one rogue talent. You must meet all of the prerequisites for this rogue talent. You can now take the Extra Rogue Talent feat (Advanced Player’s Guide).

Rogue Training [Faction]Prerequisites: Revolutionary League, factotum.Benefits: You always treat all rogue class skills as class skills, no matter your class. If you already have one or more levels in the rogue class, you instead gain a +2 bonus on any rogue class skills that you have one or more ranks in.

Sign of One

Illusion Perception: It’s hard to put one over on Signers, as their belief that they create the multiverse lets them see through illusion. All members receive an automatic saving throw to resist illusion magic. Even if they fail this initial saving throw, they still receive the standard saving throw after interacting with the illusion.

Centre of All: Perhaps because of their often immense egos, Signers have difficulties understanding the motives and feelings of others. Hence, they suffer a -2 penalty on all Diplomacy checks (or Charisma checks) made to influence the attitude of a nonplayer character, as well as a -2 penalty on their leadership score if they have the Leadership feat.

Sign of One Feats

Imagining [Faction]Prerequisites: Sign of One, factotum.Benefit: You gain the power of imagining, which you can use to bend the fabric of reality to conform to your wishes. To imagine a thing into (or out of) existence, you must make a successful imagination check: make a Wisdom check with your character level added as a bonus. The DC of the check is 10 + twice the level of the spell being mimicked, with a cumulative +5 added for each subsequent attempt that week.

With a successful imagination check, you mimic the effect of any spell (up to 4th level) as if you were the appropriate class at your current character level. ‘Course, you can only mimic the effects of spells a caster of your character level could actually use. That is, a 5th-level factotum can’t cast a 4th-level cleric spell.

Using this power, you can imagine an object into existence (as with the minor creation wizard spell), heal a comrade of sickness (as with the cure disease cleric spell), or any number of other feats. All that matters is the power of the mind!Special: If you fail your imagining check you are unable to wield the skill again for seven days. ‘Course, imagining has its dangers, too. If you fail your check by rolling a natural 1 you believe yourself imaginary! You become a shadow conjuration versions of yourself; you temporarily possess only 20% of your hit points, inflict 20% normal damage in combat, and cannot cast spells or use racial or class abilities. You can try up to once a day to make a successful imagining check and return to reality. Once you imagine yourself back into reality, you are unable to use this ability again for seven days, plus one day for every day you were imaginary.

Greater Imagining [Faction]Prerequisites: Sign of One, factor.Benefits: You can take imagining to even greater heights to mimic spells up to 9th level.Special: If you fail the check when attempting to mimic a spell of 5th level or higher you lose your imagining powers until you gain a level. Rolling a natural 1 when attempting to mimic a spell of 5th level or higher means you have imagined too well a multiverse without yourself: You cease to exist. The only way you can return to the multiverse is through the use of a miracle or wish spell – or if another Signer of equal or higher character level imagines you back!

Society of Sensation

Membership Has its Privileges: As managers of most of the entertainment in Sigil, the Sensates are by far the richest faction in the Cage, and they’re generous to their members. Characters who join the Sensates immediately receive a signing bonus – new characters begin with three times the typical starting money.

What’s more, Annali Webspinner’s quite receptive to adventurers who seek her help at the Civic Festhall. If a party that includes a Sensate agrees to return to the Festhall afterwards and record its experiences in the sensoriums, Webspinner’s likely to donate a magical item or a few spells to aid in the quest.

Heightened Senses: Sensates have improved visual abilities, possessing darvision 60 ft; if they already receive darkvision from a different source, their range is increased by 60 feet.

New Sensations: While not to the point of foolhardiness, Sensates are fascinated by new tastes, smells, and so forth. Whenever possible, they’ll seek out new experiences. In practice, they can’t refuse offers that could lead to these – a new wine, an exotic flower, or whatever. Only when faced with obvious deadly peril will they shun such temptations.

Society of Sensation Feats

Broad Experiences [Faction]Prerequisites: Sensate, character level 5th.Benefits: You have started to explore more than just your physical surroundings. You’ve built up an extensive store of experiences that often gives you unusual insights into a problem. You can make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.Special: If you have the bardic knowledge ability or a similar ability from another class (such as loremaster), you instead gain a +2 faction bonus to all Knowledge skill checks.

Sensory Touch [Faction]Prerequisites: Sensate, character level 3rd.Benefits: Once per day, you may touch another creature to experience one experience it experienced within the last 24 hours.

You may use this ability to heal the creature of hit point damage, or of a condition effecting the creature, transferring that damage or condition to yourself. Sensory touch can be used on any amount of damage sustained during a single turn, or on the fatigued, shaken, sickened, dazed, exhausted, frightened, or nauseated status effects.

Alternatively, instead of healing the creature, you may instead steal the creature’s memory of one recent experience. The creature receives a will save against DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your charisma modifier to retain its memory.

Either use of this ability is a touch attack made as a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

Transcendent Order

Combat Instinct: Because they always try to act without thought, all Ciphers – namers included – gain a +2 faction bonus on their initiative modifiers.

Action Trance: In combat, Ciphers can enter an Action Trance where they act on reflex alone. When rolling initiative at the beginning of an encounter, a Cipher can choose whether or not to use their Action Trance for the full duration of that encounter. While in an Action Trance, they gain a +2 faction bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects. If a spell or effect normally allows no saving throw, they may make a saving throw without their +2 bonus. A Cipher may not use the delay action while in an Action Trance.

No Hesitation: Because Ciphers act unhesitatingly, they suffer a unique restriction: In play, as soon as an action is stated for a Cipher player character, that cutter is committed to the action. They player can’t say, ”Oh, wait, I changed my mind!” Bashers who pause to consider or debate pending actions are failing to adhere to the philosophy.

Transcendent Order Feats

Master of the Heart [Faction]Prerequisites: Transcendent OrderBenefits: You increase your initiative bonus to a +3 modifier, and increase your saving throw bonus against mind-affecting effects during your Action Trance to +3. In addition, a number of times per day equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1/day) you can initiate an Action Trance at will as an immediate action. When initiated in this way, your trance lasts a number of rounds equal to ½ your character level, unless an encounter requires an initiative roll before that time expires. The action trance lasts through any encounter that may occur.

Master of the Mind [Faction]Prerequisites: Transcendent Order, master of the heartBenefits: You receive a +4 modifier to initiative and a +4 bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects. You can initiate an Action Trance at will as a free action and may automatically enter an Action Trance before an encounter begins. Provided you do so, you are never considered flat-footed at the beginning of an encounter, and you may always act in a surprise round even if you don’t notice your enemies.

Xaositects

Babble: Once per day as a standard action, a Xaositect can generate a 30-foot-radius emanation that causes all sounds in the area to turn into garbled, cacophonous, and unintelligible noise. Sounds that issue from, enter, or pass through the area are altered and made unrecognizable as a natural sound. Within this area, verbal communication is impossible. Even something as simple as a shout of surprise is turned into a warped and alien sound. Spells with verbal components cannot be cast. Scrolls and other magic items that require a verbal component to be activated do not function. Spells and items that rely on sound do not function. Sonic damage has no effect. This ability lasts for 1 round per two character levels.

Scofflaw: Xaositects enjoy the protection of a nondetection effect against spells cast by lawful spellcasters. Such creatures must succeed on a caster level check against a DC of 10 + half the Xaositect’s character level + their Charisma modifier in order to successfully employ a divination against them. This ability can be suppressed or resumed as a free action.

Follow the Wind: The Chaosmen are committed to the power of Chaos. As such, Xaositects can never found businesses, build strongholds, raise armies, or undertake any other action that requires long-term organization and discipline. Indeed, they just barely hold their faction together as it is.

Skills: Chaosmen have a +2 faction bonus to Bluff checks. A Xaositect always treats Bluff and Intimidate as class skills.

Xaositect Feats

Big Boss Ability [Faction]Prerequisites: Xaositect, big boss.Benefits: You gain special abilities beyond those of regular bosses. The GM determines this ability: You might have the power of a rod of wonder once a day, find yourself able to alter self three times a day, or even become subject to alter self with no control. You might suddenly discover you can use a power similar to the spell shrink item or minor creation three times a day or gain a constant unseen servant (per the wizard spell).Special: GMs should base abilities on a character’s personality and skills, taking care not to make the PC the centre of power in a campaign. And change the ability from time to time. That’s the way chaos works: Nothing stays the same for long.

Confusion [Faction]Prerequisites: Xaositect, boss, character level 9th.Benefits: You can radiate confusion, like the wizard spell, once per day in a 20-foot radius. The effects last 2d6 rounds; any lawful characters in the area of effect receive -2 penalties to their saving throws.